Movers, shakers - and the rest

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, May, 2006 | by Steve Goldstein

If power tends to corrupt, as the axiom goes, New Jersey has nothing to worry about.

A new survey that rates the relative power of members of Congress for 2005 places the Garden State 49th among all state delegations.

The good news? It beat out Georgia.

Dragging down New Jersey's score was the rating for Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who, because he only recently returned to the Senate and lacks committee clout, ranked 97th out of 99 senators. New Jersey's other senator, Democrat Robert Menendez, wasn't in office last year.

Other notable rankings included Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R., Pa.), rated second-most-powerful in the chamber after Majority Leader Bill Frist (R., Tenn.), and Rep. John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania,...